Game Preview
• After playing three straight games on the road, the Navy men’s lacrosse team returns home to face Patriot League foe Lafayette on Saturday … the 15th edition of the Navy-Lafayette series is set for a 12:00 pm faceoff at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• The Mids are coming off a puzzling 11-2 loss that saw Bucknell hold Navy scoreless for 51 minutes. The Midshipmen built a 2-1 advantage with 6:08 remaining in the opening quarter, but were blanked for the remainder of the game as the Bison scored 10 consecutive goals to deal the Mids their third straight loss.
• Lafayette has lost two in a row, dropping an 8-5 decision to Marist last Saturday and a mid-week contest to Delaware, 11-9. The Leopards were tied up with the Blue Hens, 7-7, going into the final quarter, but Delaware scored four straight goals and held Lafayette scoreless for over 10 minutes.
• A radio broadcast of Saturday’s contest will be carried by WNAV 1430 AM/99.9 FM with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller handling the call … coverage begins with the Navy lacrosse pregame show at 11:45 am … the game will also be streamed online via Navy All-Access (subscription) with live stats available at NavySports.com.

A Win over Lafayette would …
• snap the Mids’ three-game skid.
• give Navy a 14-1 series advantage over Lafayette and stretch the Mids’ winning streak to four in a row against the Leopards.
• improve the Mids’ record to 9-0 against Lafayette in games played in Annapolis.
• give Navy’s Rick Sowell a 5-1 record all-time against Lafayette, including a 2-0 mark while at Navy.
• give Rick Sowell a 95-90 career record and a 9-9 mark at Navy.
• push Navy’s all-time record to 759-317-14.

Scouting the Leopards
• First-year head coach Jim Rogalski has led Lafayette to a 2-4 record this season with the Leopards actually posting a better record on the road (2-1) as opposed to playing at home (0-3).
• After opening the season with an 11-10 overtime victory against Georgetown, the Leopards have dropped four of their last five games including each of their last two.
• Lafayette was tripped up at home last Saturday by Marist and dropped an 11-9 decision to Delaware on Tuesday after the Blue Hens outscored the Leopards 4-2 in the final quarter.
• Six of the Leopards’ 10 starters return including junior goalkeeper Jake Hyatt who has started all 5 games between the pipes this season where he owns a 9.98 goals-against average and a 58.0 save percentage. He is averaging 13.8 saves per game which is ranked ninth nationally, while the team as a whole is ranked 10th.
• Additionally, Lafayette’s top two scorers return in sophomore attackman Brian Bock, who led the way a year ago with 30 points on 15 goals and 15 assists, and fellow second-year attackman Cory Scheuerle, who posted 16 points on 14 goals and 2 assists. Bock recorded 7 goals and 8 assists this spring, while Scheuerle has scored 3 goals.
• After seeing action in 8 of the 13 games a year ago and earning 4 starts, attackman Sonny Round is off to a fantastic start to his sophomore campaign. He is Lafayette’s leading scorer with 15 goals and 5 assists. Meanwhile, rookie Kevin Wanke has been solid for the Leopards with 7 goals and 4 assists.
• Senior Greg Rau won 47.7 percent (51-107) of his faceoffs a year ago and is winning at about the same clip this season. He has won 41 of his 82 draws.
• Senior defenseman Geoff Stears owns a team-high 10 takeaways and is third on the team with 13 ground balls.
• Lafayette has had more extra-man opportunities than any other team in the country with 35. On Tuesday, Delaware was flagged eight times with the Leopards scoring on three of their eight opportunities. On the year, Lafayette is 13-for-35 (37.1) on extra-man.

Navy vs. Lafayette – The Series
• Saturday’s contest marks the 15th meeting between the two programs, and the 11th since the Midshipmen joined the Patriot League in 2004. Navy leads the series, 13-1.
• The two teams first met in 1926 with Navy earning a 23-0 win … Navy and Lafayette battled one another three times between 1929-31 … the 1931 contest was the last time the two programs had met before the Mids joined the Patriot League.
• The Mids won 10 straight against the Leopards before dropping the program’s only loss to Lafayette on March 12, 2010 in Easton.
• Navy has scored double digits in 11 of the 14 games, while the Mids have held Lafayette to single digits 13 times.
• In the 14-game history, the Mids have outscored the Leopards, 180-64 … since joining the league in ‘04, Navy has outscored Lafayette, 116-63.

Meet the Mids
• Navy will hold its annual “Meet the Mids” event following its game against Lafayette on Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• Members of the Navy men’s lacrosse team will be available for autographs on the Blue Concourse, with the first 300 kids in line for the postgame autograph session receiving a Navy lacrosse “Meet the Mids” t-shirt, compliments of Annapolis area Papa John’s and Chick-fil-A.
• Navy’s 2013 lacrosse poster and an autograph card will be available, while prizes will also be handed out.
• For more information on the event or to purchase tickets, call 1-800-US4-NAVY or visit NavySports.com(.)

National Leader Board
• According to the latest national statistics released on Monday by the NCAA, the Mids are ranked among the top 20 in four categories including No. 1 in a pair.
• The Mids jumped from No. 4 to No. 1 in caused turnovers this week, averaging 11.8 per contest. Senior close defenseman Austin Miller, meanwhile, is eighth nationally causing 2.4 turnovers per game while junior long pole Pat Kiernan is 12th, averaging 2.0 per contest.
• Navy is also ranked No. 1 in man-down defense, surrendering just two goals on 24 attempts (91.7). The Mids have not given up an extra-man goal in their last three games.
• Navy is eighth in ground balls (35.6) which is a huge improvement over 2012. The Mids were ranked 43rd in ground balls per game, averaging 27.67.
• The Mids are also ranked among the top 20 in saves per game, averaging 13.2.
• Navy dropped out of the top 20 following the Bucknell loss in scoring margin (10th to 26th), scoring defense (13th to 21st), scoring offense (17th to 33rd) and points per game (20th to 35th).

Home Field Advantage
• 2013 marks the 52nd season Navy has played at least one game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• Navy owns a 43-19 record (69.4) in games played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since the start of the 2004 campaign, outscoring its foes, 674-454.
• Since playing its entire home schedule at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium beginning in 2004, Navy has lost back-to-back games at home just 5 times … in 2006, the Mids lost to Georgetown, 9-5, and then suffered a 9-8 setback against Johns Hopkins … in 2008, Navy again lost regular-season decisions to the Hoyas and Blue Jays before the Mids’ season concluded with a 10-4 loss to Hopkins in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament … Navy lost back-to-back home games in 2010 to Loyola, 8-7 OT, and North Carolina, 11-4 … in 2011, Navy dropped a one-goal decision to Colgate, a 10-4 contest to No. 7 Maryland and a 14-9 decision to Army … last season, the Mids dropped a one-goal heart breaker to fourth-ranked North Carolina and followed up with a 14-9 loss to Bucknell in the league opener.
• In its 106-year history, Navy has lost 3 straight home games just 5 times …
1980 #1 Virginia, #2 Johns Hopkins, #9 N. Carolina
1985 Washington College, N. Carolina, Army
2003 #13 Rutgers, Air Force, #4 Georgetown,
#4 Maryland
2008 #4 Georgetown, #7 Johns Hopkins,
#4 Johns Hopkins
2011 Colgate, #7 Maryland, #17 Army
… and four-straight home games just once
2003 #13 Rutgers, Air Force, #4 Georgetown,
#4 Maryland
• The 2003 campaign marks the only season in which Navy has lost 4 straight home games at the stadium.
• Having played at least a game a year at the stadium for 42 consecutive years, Navy stepped away in 2003, allowing for state-of-the-art renovations to take place, including the Field Turf surface and two video boards … Navy has played all of its home games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since the beginning of the 2004 campaign.
• Navy had won 20 consecutive home games against Patriot League foes before dropping a 10-9 decision to Colgate in 2009.
• Opponents have scored double digits against the Mids just 14 times in games played on their home field over the last 10 seasons … Navy has held 21 of its 63 opponents to five or fewer goals since 2004 in games played at home (includes 2010 game vs. VMI played at Rip Miller Field).